Take A Step Back And LISTEN UP

Take a step back and LISTEN UP! If you don’t want to read a rant, you might want to stop now. This is a subject I can’t write about without a whole lot of emotions. You have been warned. People really annoy me when they just don't listen. It's so frustrating. It’s ether I don’t speak English or my words are just going in through one ear and out the other. In conversations, I give people my time and ask them lots of questions but get nothing back in return. Conversations should be fair, with equal amounts of talking time. That's all I'm asking for. It makes my blood boil when I'm ignored. It makes me cringe inside in a weird way. Listening isn't a skill that gets taught, but maybe it should. When I was in primary school, we had it right. The class would sit in a huge circle on the carpet and you could only talk if you were holding the teddy. It was great! We learnt how to take turns talking, and most importantly, take turns listening. I wish we could bring the teddy rule back in. I'm the kind of person who asks a lot of questions. I try my best to focus fully on what's being said. I think it's got a lot to do with the world we live in. Social networking has taken the effort out of socialising with each other - we're locked away in our bedrooms, waiting for our news feeds to update. It's making us lazy. Okay, I totally understand if your cousins live in Australia but I feel these websites are not helping us socialise in person. They encourage people to be self-obsessed. With your own profile, your life is on show. People begin to compare themselves with each other and it becomes a fight for attention. Our lifestyles aren't helping us be good listeners. There are times when people have troubles and they need someone to talk to... well, actually they need someone to listen. And yet some people will still find a way to make it about themselves. "Oh, that happened to me too... etc." But sometimes you have to remember it's not always about you! So just listen and